Clifton Terrace School

Clifton Terrace School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within twelve months of the Education Review Office and Clifton Terrace School working in Te Ara Huarau, an improvement evaluation approach used in most English Medium State and State Integrated Schools. For more information about Te Ara Huarau see ERO’s website. www.ero.govt.nz

Context 

Clifton Terrace School is located in Nelson and provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. The vision to ‘expand the horizons of all who are connected with the kura’ is enacted through the values of ‘Respect, Inclusiveness, Sustainability and Excellence’. The school is part of the Kāhui Ako ki Whakatū.

Clifton Terrace School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are the following:

  • Through embedding the 6 principles of Culturally Responsive Practice across the school all students are able to access the New Zealand Curriculum.

  • Mauri Ora, student engagement and transition.

  • Manaakitanga – relationships to earn respect for themselves, others and the environment.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Clifton Terrace School’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively initiatives in the teaching of mathematics are improving learning and teaching outcomes for all learners, particularly those who need extending.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

  • improve outcomes for all students, with particular emphasis on moving those from the expected level to above level

  • provide a structured, consistent and cyclical approach to teaching mathematics

  • promote the enjoyment of mathematics learning and teaching.

The school expects to see increased achievement outcomes and positive attitudes towards mathematics learning and teaching.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how effectively mathematics initiatives are improving learning and teaching outcomes for all learners, particularly those who need extending:

  • Effective pedagogical knowledge across the teaching teams.

  • A highly reflective school culture that is improvement focused, based on current research and best practice.

  • Strong leadership with a clear vision for supporting and building a consistent understanding of and approach to teaching of mathematics, leading to higher achievement.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • continuing to build capacity and shared understanding of best teaching practices, particularly in mathematics

  • allowing and supporting teachers to know about and reflect on practices to ensure current processes are effectively meeting the needs of learners.

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. ERO will support the school in reporting their progress to the community. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

26 July 2023 

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement.  educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Clifton Terrace School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026

As of February 2023, the Clifton Terrace School, School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Further Information

For further information please contact Clifton Terrace School, School Board.

The next School Board assurance that it is meeting regulatory and legislative requirements will be reported, along with the Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report, within three years.

Information on ERO’s role and process in this review can be found on the Education Review Office website.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

26 July 2023 

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Clifton Terrace School

Provision for International Students Report

Background

The Education Review Office reviews schools that are signatories to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

Findings

Clifton Terrace School has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code. No international students were enrolled at the time of the ERO review.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

26 July 2023 
 

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Clifton Terrace School - 22/05/2019

School Context

Clifton Terrace School is in Atawhai on the outskirts of Nelson. It caters for Years 1 to 6 students. Three quarters of the roll are Pākehā or European students, 10% identify as Māori and 14% are from a range of other ethnicities.

The school’s valued outcomes for all learners are to expand their horizons as adventurous learners, competent communicators and respectful citizens through developing the Keys for Learning. A current schoolwide goal is to: ‘embed the principles of Cultural Relationships for Responsive Pedagogy so that all students are able to access The New Zealand Curriculum’.

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:

  • achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
  • wellbeing
  • attendance.

Many staff have long associations with the school. There is a well-established leadership team. Teachers continue to engage in ongoing schoolwide professional learning and development in culturally responsive practice and mathematics.

The school is a member of the Nelson City Community of Learning|Kāhui Ako ki Whakatū.

Evaluation Findings

1 Equity and excellence – achievement of valued outcomes for students

1.1 How well is the school achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students?

Most students, including Māori, continue to achieve at or above expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. In reading, almost all children achieve at or above expectation. Disparity in achievement for boys in writing continues to be reduced. 

The school gathers wellbeing and engagement data, in response to a Kāhui Ako focus. There is a schoolwide strategic focus on addressing disparities identified in this data for some groups of students.

Students with additional learning needs are identified and well supported through a collaborative approach and an appropriate range of support agencies. Schoolwide systems for collating, monitoring and sharing of information about these learners are being strengthened. This should better support the coordination and evaluation of provision.

1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?

There is evidence of acceleration for some students who need this, in reading, writing and mathematics. The school has yet to develop a schoolwide picture of acceleration for learners at risk.

There are improved systems for tracking and monitoring students’ learning. Currently, targets for raising achievement are set at syndicate level and achievement data is reported to the board. A next step is to refine schoolwide targets to more specifically focus on identifying and reporting rates of progress for learners at risk. This should help to more clearly show the impact of deliberate strategies and actions on accelerating learning.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence – processes and practices

2.1 What school processes and practices are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

Positive, caring relationships are highly evident throughout the school. These promote participation, engagement and a strong sense of community for children and their families.

A well-established programme and practices for assisting transition to school provides a welcoming and successful start for children. Ongoing emphasis on developing learning partnerships with students and their families is increasing understanding of their learning. Students are encouraged to undertake schoolwide responsibilities.

Children are well supported to be confident and successful in their learning. A wide range of learning opportunities is provided within a broad curriculum. The school’s valued outcomes are strongly evident and foster the development of students’ learning competencies. Teachers use purposeful strategies to promote collaboration and support students’ understanding of their learning and progress.

School leaders demonstrate care and respect for students, staff and families. They foster relational trust through an inclusive culture. Teachers’ strengths are valued and a wide range of leadership opportunities are offered. Innovation is promoted.

Trustees are improvement-focused and responsive to identified needs to strengthen outcomes for students. They bring a range of expertise and skills to their roles and value staff and the community. Collaborative charter development processes, useful survey data and a range of school developed information effectively assists their decision-making.

2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

Leaders and trustees recognise the need to further develop schoolwide systems and processes to ensure robust, dependable achievement information.

The school has a clear strategic focus on developing culturally responsive practice to strengthen its response to Māori students and their families. A next step is, in consultation with whānau Māori, to more clearly identify valued outcomes in relation to identity, language and culture for Māori learners. This should assist the school to plan and evaluate the effectiveness of implemented actions, to sustain ongoing improvement.

Leaders and trustees should ensure there is a systematic process in place for internal evaluation. This should assist in determining the impact of initiatives and planned actions on accelerating achievement and promoting improved outcomes for students.

3 Other Matters

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code.

No international students were enrolled at the time of the ERO review.

Board Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the board and principal of the school completed the ERO board assurance statement and self-audit checklists. In these documents they attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legislative obligations related to the following:

  • board administration
  • curriculum
  • management of health, safety and welfare
  • personnel management
  • finance
  • asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
  • physical safety of students
  • teacher registration and certification
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand down, suspension, expulsion and exclusion of students
  • attendance
  • school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.

4 ERO’s Overall Judgement

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Clifton Terrace School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Well placed.

ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance is available on ERO’s website.

5 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:

  • positive, caring relationships that promote participation and a sense of belonging
  • a broad curriculum that supports students to successfully access, collaborate and engage in learning
  • leaders, teachers and trustees who are responsive, supportive and focused on improvement.

Next steps

For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:

  • strengthening schoolwide systems and processes to ensure robust, dependable achievement information
  • more clearly identifying valued outcomes in relation to identity, language and culture for Māori learners to guide action and evaluation
  • establishing and implementing clear processes for internal evaluation to better determine the impact of initiatives and guide decision making.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

22 May 2019

About the school

Location

Nelson

Ministry of Education profile number

3187

School type

Contributing primary (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

284

Gender composition

Boys 54%, Girls 46%

Ethnic composition

Māori 10%
NZ European/Pākehā 61%
Other European 15%
Asian 7%
Other ethnic groups 7%

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)

Yes

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

March 2019

Date of this report

22 May 2019

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review July 2015
Education Review June 2012

Clifton Terrace School - 23/07/2015

Findings

Clifton Terrace School is a welcoming, friendly and inclusive school. The school provides students with a positive, supportive and learning-focused environment.

Students participate in a broad range of rich and varied learning experiences covering all curriculum areas. Most students are achieving at or above National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics.

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.

1 Context

What are the important features of this school that have an impact on student learning?

Clifton Terrace School is a welcoming, friendly and inclusive school. It has strong relationships within the school, with local early childhood centres and other schools in the community. These relationships help students make successful transitions into, through and beyond the school.

The board, leaders and staff have successfully maintained, and have built on, the strengths identified in the previous report. For instance, leaders, students, teachers and parents are continuing to have significant involvement in caring for the environment and actively promoting the vision for students to ‘expand their horizons’.

Since the 2012 ERO review, leaders and staff have made good progress in meeting the recommendations in the report. This is most evident in the improved assessment practices, the increased use of te reo and tikanga Māori, greater use of parents’ views for future planning and the development of internal review processes.

This noticeable progress reflects the impact of good quality external and internal professional development for leaders and teachers.

2 Learning

How well does this school use achievement information to make positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement?

This school is developing effective systems to make better use of achievement information. These systems are contributing to making positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement.

The tracking and reporting of students’ progress and achievement has resulted in teachers and trustees being better informed about how to meet the needs of students. Students are able to talk about their learning goals, achievement and identify their next steps for learning.

Teachers are developing collaborative and consistent ways within the school and with other schools to make more accurate judgements about students’ achievement against the National Standards in literacy and mathematics.

Students at risk of not achieving school and national expectations receive a broad range of targeted and appropriate support. Students who were identified as needing extra support in writing in 2014 have made very good progress. Some are still receiving extra help with their learning.

Parents are given good opportunities to be involved in, and to learn useful ways to better support their children’s learning.

3 Curriculum

How effectively does this school’s curriculum promote and support student learning?

The school’s curriculum effectively promotes and supports students’ learning.

Students participate in a broad range of rich and varied learning experiences covering all curriculum areas. There is a strong and strategic approach to give emphasis to environment studies, visual arts, music, drama, sports and bicultural aspects of the curriculum.

The school provides students with a positive, supportive and learning-focused environment. Senior leaders and staff actively promote the school’s values and good standards of behaviour. This clearly fosters students’ sense of belonging and wellbeing.

Teachers work collaboratively with planning and use consistent and shared teaching and learning practices. Students are developing skills to confidently manage and reflect on their learning.

Trustees, leaders, parents and teachers have high expectations for students’ engagement and achievement. Most students are achieving at or above National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics.

Parents receive a good range of formal and informal information about their children’s learning. The effective gathering of parents’ views has contributed to changes in the curriculum and knowing students and their families better.

Areas for review and development

The school has identified, and ERO agrees that the next steps for the school leaders and teachers are:

  • to the evaluation of continueall areas of the curriculum

  • extend the targets to include a focus on students performing at and above national standard

  • to continue to explore ways to find effective strategies to engage with whānau Māori.

How effectively does the school promote educational success for Māori, as Māori?

The school is developing ways to effectively promote educational success for Māori as Māori.

Most of the Māori students are achieving well in literacy and mathematics in relation to the National Standards. Teachers are effectively using information and the internal tracking system well, to identify and support those students requiring extra help.

The school’s inclusive culture, environment and curriculum reflect Māori values and perspectives and local legends.

Key staff are supporting the school to increase teachers’ and leaders’ understanding and knowledge of te reo and tikanga Māori to use in classroom programmes.

4 Sustainable Performance

How well placed is the school to sustain and improve its performance?

The school is extending its capacity to sustain and improve its performance.

The board and leaders have developed a well-considered charter, strategic and annual plan. This includes the views of parents, staff and students. This process has contributed to strengthening the school’s internal evaluation capacity.

The board has used a strategic approach to employ and use staff with new skills to lead, support and extend teaching and learning.

The principal and senior leaders provide strong professional leadership. They have managed changes well, particularly with the assistance of an external adviser, in the analysis of student achievement and teaching and learning practices.

Trustees receive informative reports that help them to make appropriate resourcing decisions. The principal and teachers have very good processes to communicate with parents and the community.

Areas for review and development

ERO identified, and the board agrees, the next steps to sustain positive outcomes for students are to:

  • refine appraisal and teaching as inquiry to become an integral part of the evaluative process to improve outcomes for students

  • sustain and consolidate new initiatives.

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. No international students were enrolled at the time of the ERO review.

The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code. ERO’s investigations confirmed that the school’s self-review process for international students is thorough.

Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review, the board of trustees and principal of the school completed the ERO Board Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklists. In these documents they attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legislative obligations related to:

  • board administration

  • curriculum

  • management of health, safety and welfare

  • personnel management

  • financial management

  • asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)

  • physical safety of students

  • teacher registration

  • processes for appointing staff

  • stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions

  • attendance.

Conclusion

Clifton Terrace School is a welcoming, friendly and inclusive school. The school provides students with a positive, supportive and learning-focused environment.

Students participate in a broad range of rich and varied learning experiences covering all curriculum areas. Most students are achieving at or above National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics.

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.

Chris Rowe
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)

23 July 2015

About the School

Location

Nelson

Ministry of Education profile number

3187

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

305

Number of international students

0

Gender composition

Girls 47%; Boys 53%

Ethnic composition

Pākehā
Māori
Asian
Pacific Island
Other ethnicities

82%
  8%
  1%
  1%
  8%

Review team on site

May 2005

Date of this report

23 July 2015

Most recent ERO reports

Education Review
Education Review
Education Review

June 2012
April 2009
March 2006